Well, here we go again. TV pundits are saying it all depends on Obama winning Ohio… that’s the state that will make all the difference. I’m not sure I see it as a completely required Ohio win and nothing else.

You know that guy who’s running for president? The one who touts individual achievement, without any government assistance, as the ideal embodied by truly patriotic Americans? Wouldn’t it be crazy if there were a video out there of, say, his own mother praising government welfare assistance as one of the primary reasons his father was able to establish himself in this great country of ours and eventually become a governor?

Romney should have his people check out the people he talks with…but here in New Hampshire he finds a man who fought for his country in Viet Nam, who wants marriage equality between men and men and who finally admits he is gay and loves a man.

Romney comes across as a fool.

Why should any person be able to decide what someone else does with their lives? Why should Romney be able to make that decision for them? The result… these laws give Romney and the Republicans that kind of power.

Fact is, this was picked up by the news media and makes Romney look really uncaring:

Here’s someone who will effect the votes of others and there’s Romney… a fool.

That’s a blatant lie — the day Obama was inaugurated, there was a $1.3 trillion deficit Bush had left for him to clean up.

• In New Hampshire, Romney saidObama is “focused on taking away from those who have the least.”

That’s blatantly untrue in an ironic sort of way. Romney’s tax plan calls for higher taxes on those at the lowest end of the income scale. He also intends to cut food stamps, Medicaid, and educational spending, which benefit those who have the least.

• Romney summarized his message to young people: “It’s so critical, in my view, for you to consider what’s in the best interest of not just yourself, but of America, over the coming century, and it is to stop the excessive overspending.”

David Corn explained this week that this is Romney’s arguably “biggest fib,” which falls “somewhere between ‘ridiculous’ and ‘stupid.’”

• “The Obama administration has decided that it has the power to mandate what Catholic charities, schools, and hospitals must cover in their insurance plans…. Here we are, just getting started with Obamacare, and the federal government is already dictating to religious groups on matters of doctrine and conscience.”

9. In New Hampshire, Romney said Obama is “focused on taking away from those who have the least.”

That’s blatantly untrue in an ironic sort of way. Romney’s tax plan calls for higher taxes on those at the lowest end of the income scale. He also intends to cut food stamps, Medicaid, and educational spending, which benefit those who have the least.

I doubt that Ron Paul is going to quit yet. Wouldn’t it be funny if he took Florida?

There’s also the potential, now, for a brokered Republican Convention… this means that a wholly new candidate could be brought in by the Party and made nominee (Chris Christie, maybe?)

So now we have one candidate that often switches positions solely to get the vote (Mitt), one that makes Democrats look sane (Newt) and one who puts religion and ant-gay hysteria on top of governing the country (Santorum.)

As to which one of these Obama would prefer to tun against…who knows? Any one of them has great benefits for the Democrats. I’d prefer Santorum, but that is the least likely.

“That’s what it looks like if numbers from a caucus in the town of Moulton, Appanoose County, are correctly counted when the official certification begins Wednesday night.

“This not only would rewrite the election history of 2012 to date—it would invalidate the oft-repeated line that Mitt Romney is the only candidate to win both Iowa and New Hampshire. It would stop the inevitability narrative in its tracks.”

After getting 17% of the New Hampshire vote, John Huntsman, probably the only true conservative in the race, is announcing his pull out later this morning (11 AM ET). Huntsman will most likely be throwing his support to Romney.

Huntsman was the candidate to make no hateful statements about Obama or his Republican competitors. His conservative positions were all about policy and he was the only candidate running with a sense that he was planning to govern the WHOLE country and not just rightists.

This is probably the best thing for Huntsman to do if he is planning on running again in 2016. He has established himself as a known candidate nationwide during the primaries so far and now he doesn’t have to continue with losses. Leaving the campaign while he is now in third place will make him a leader in the future Republican party.

… and none of the news programs have any idea of where the results will be. They are all bouncing around the idea of Romney as the winner without committing themselves to that as a final opinion… and the big controversy is who will come in second.

Will Paul screw up Romney’s lead? Will Huntsman’s apparent rise in poll numbers make him the second placer and hold Romney’s numbers down? And what about the angry drive of Gingrich who seems to want Romney destroyed?

MAKING AMERICA GREAT

On top of everything else, eyes are starting to turn to South Carolina with a question as to how many of these guys are going to be running there. Gingrich is already spending millions on anti-Romney films. Perry is using his New Hampshire campaigning to reach South Carolina audiences… he’s likely to be dead last in NH. He’s also the one most likely to disappear after tonight.

Then there’s Santorum. He doesn’t seem to have the same push he gained in Iowa and, given his views on contraception, welfare reform (ie: take money away from the poor, especially the black poor, so they will work) and his anti-gay marriage and adoption stance, he may be turning folks off – FINALLY!

If I were a Republican (that is sooo hard to say), I’d vote for Huntsman. At least he seems to be campaigning to be everyone’s president… not just right wing weirdos.

sole objective seems to be getting even with Romney for the negative ads his PAC pulled off in Iowa. Next will be Ron Paul, who is getting just as negative.
And, of course, we will all look for another “Oooops!” from Perry, who is really playing to the South Carolina Audience.

So we are now heading to New Hampshire where Newt Gingrich has already started to publish anti-Romney ads and the field has been reduced by one Bachmann (we thought we were going to lose Perry, too, but he’s still in, although doing his campaigning in South Carolina.)

Santorum is heading for NH and his score in Iowa is going to attract some money into his coffers, but New Hampshire is not primarily a born-again Xian state and he doesn’t really fit in.

Romney is going to have to move a little towards center to take New Hampshire, but he seems to have no trouble switching positions. Today John McCain endorsed him. You remember McCain… in the last Presidential election’s primaries, when they competed for the nomination, McCain accused Romney of “consistently flip-flopping on every issue.“

Maybe. Maybe one or two of these yoyos will drop out of the race. Bachmann, who should, has said she won’t. Huntsman, who will come in at the bottom has not really campaigned here… he may be waiting to see what happens in New Hampshire.

Newt, if he comes in lower than fourth, will likely disappear. Santorum, if not in the top three will either drop out, or skip New Hampshire and throw all his remaining money into South Carolina.

Ron Paul, who is likely to come in second, should really not be in the race at all. I don’t think he is ready to drop out yet and will probably come in second to Romney tonight. Rick Parry is an unknown, but bottom level, quantity. If I were he and came in low tonight, I’d quit or look even more stupid…ooops!

In moving to New Hampshire, someone has to appear to be a moderate. Romney and Huntsman are the only two who can do that. Newt is threatening to do nothing but really dirty Romney attack ads in NH… this may have the backlash of doing Newt in. Let’s hope.

John Huntsman, toiling at the bottom of the list in Iowa, is putting his effort into New Hampshire… and to do that he has released a video called “Unelectable” attacking Ron Paul (gee, you think he’d go after Romney instead of wasting his time on the Loser In Chief.)

One day it’s Newt, the next it’s Ron Paul… then there’s a “surge” for Santorum, plus insufferable jabs at all of them from Bachmann. And, of course, Romney still polls in the 25% range and can’t seem to get major Conservatives behind him. Huntsman might as well be invisible and you wish Perry would be.

And without Herman Cain we no longer have the kind of comic entertainment which lets us ignore the rest of these clowns.

Add to all of this the need of all the news stations (and Fox) to keep all of this brouhaha on the air all the time without even making the least amount of difference. Not one candidate shows any sign of being able to serve all of America.

They all seem to have a view of the Constitution as a document defined by one or two articles… it’s easy to ignore the ones you don’t believe in. No matter how they comment on Obama (or in many cases each other), none of these folks would know a real Socialist if they tripped over one at a Karl Marx picnic on May Day.

Bill Tchakirides

Would you believe that this old man in West Virginia was once a Broadway Producer, or a Commercial Food Photographer, or a Justice of the Peace, or a Font Designer, or even a Director of a major non-profit Arts Program on Cape Cod? Well, he was. Now he spends most of his time posting in the blogosphere and looking for things to do (retirement is a bitch).
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I am a Liberal

"Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act.
What did Conservatives do? They opposed them on every one of those things...every one! So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, 'Liberal,' as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won't work, Senator, because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor."
-- Matt Santos, The West Wing